First glance

Twenty days until election day... A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll being released at 6:30 pm ET on NBC Nightly News and on MSNBC.com will provide us with an idea of where things stand for Republicans now that the Mark Foley scandal and negative developments for the Bush Administration on Iraq -- namely, the National Intelligence Estimate and the Woodward book -- are further behind them. The last NBC/Journal poll was taken two weeks ago, just after those developments broke. Also tested in this latest poll: the level of public support for military action in North Korea.

Vice President Cheney yesterday told Rush Limbaugh that Republicans will keep control of the Senate and have "a good shot" at keeping control of the House, and that although he admittedly spends his time with Republican audiences while on the road, he finds "a far more positive attitude out there than one would led by believe just by reading the national press." Karl Rove more confidently tells the Washington Times editorial board that the party will keep both majorities and joked about "skewed political coverage that disproportionately shows Democrats poised to take control of Congress."

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From Elizabeth Wilner, Mark Murray, and Jennifer Colby

Twenty days until election day... A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll being released at 6:30 pm ET on NBC Nightly News and on MSNBC.com will provide us with an idea of where things stand for Republicans now that the Mark Foley scandal and negative developments for the Bush Administration on Iraq -- namely, the National Intelligence Estimate and the Woodward book -- are further behind them. The last NBC/Journal poll was taken two weeks ago, just after those developments broke. Also tested in this latest poll: the level of public support for military action in North Korea.

Vice President Cheney yesterday told Rush Limbaugh that Republicans will keep control of the Senate and have "a good shot" at keeping control of the House, and that although he admittedly spends his time with Republican audiences while on the road, he finds "a far more positive attitude out there than one would led by believe just by reading the national press." Karl Rove more confidently tells the Washington Times editorial board that the party will keep both majorities and joked about "skewed political coverage that disproportionately shows Democrats poised to take control of Congress."

As his Secretary of State works US allies in Asia, President Bush heads to Greensboro, NC for a No Child Left Behind event and an expected $900,000 fundraiser for the Republican National Committee. The fundraiser will be held at a private home and closed to the media. North Carolina is home to a very vulnerable GOP member of Congress and a potentially vulnerable one, though Bush isn't stopping in either district.

Republican National Committee chair Ken Mehlman is in Florida today campaigning with Joe Negron, the Republican seeking to replace Foley in Congress. Rep. Rodney Alexander is expected to testify before the House Ethics Committee today about his awareness of Foley's inappropriate behavior toward pages. Also expected to appear this week are House Majority Leader John Boehner and former House Clerk Jeff Trandahl. The Washington Post reports that the House page board has asked the Ethics Committee to look into retiring GOP Rep. Jim Kolbe's relationship with a page. And the non-Foley scandal embroiling Rep. Curt Weldon (R) seems to be growing.

In what looks like an effort to help Democrats focus their message as an appealing alternative, former President Clinton will give what aides call a "major speech" at Georgetown University later this morning "outlining his governing philosophy vis a vis" -- or versus, you might say -- "the dominant (and failed) governing philosophy of the last six years," as Clinton aide Jay Carson tells MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell. The address "will give a path forward for Democrats and progressives by describing in detail how the way we actually govern works better for the country and the world than the way they govern."

In a speech last week at UC-Santa Barbara, former NBC Political Unit intern Ryann Gastwirth notes, Clinton predicted changes in Washington, spoke about the difference between ideology and philosophy, and said a president should never become blind to evidence and argument. His address today is being hosted by the Center for American Progress, a liberal-leaning think tank that employs a lot of former Clinton aides and is viewed in Washington as a policy shop-in-waiting for another Clinton presidential campaign.

Speaking of, Sen. John McCain (R), who seemed to be absent from yesterday's detainee bill-signing ceremony, does Hardball's College Tour at Iowa State University today at 5:00 pm ET.